Vassily Sapellnikoff (1968-1941) was one of Tchaikovsky’s favourite
interpreters. He had distinguished teachers and studied in St Petersburg
where it was Sophie Menter, with whom he studied for three years, who had
recommended him to Tchaikovsky. He performed the latter’s Concerto in B flat
minor for the first time, under the composer’s baton, in 1888 and it is
therefore all the more exciting that Sapellnikoff recorded it in 1926 in
London. Critical reception of this recording acknowledges the somewhat
problematic nature of Vocalion’s set-up, as they were still recording
acoustically at a time when their more technologically savvy and richer
competitors had switched to electric recording. Nevertheless despite the
rather cramped acoustic, as the conductor Stanley Chapple noted in an
article three years later, this was a well-rehearsed piece of work over
which the musicians laboured with some effort to get good results. It was
the concerto’s first recording, heard in the revised third edition, though
there’s a big cut in the finale – the word ‘abridgement’ was invariably used
at the time instead of ‘cut’. It sounded more formally exacting, I
suppose.
Sapellnikoff exemplifies a school of pianism that may sound alien to
today’s listeners brought up on Soviet-era Klaviertigers. It’s a school
based on finger clarity of an almost pellucid kind and this easily
transcends the relatively primitive sonics. It’s also a school that prizes
lyricism over mere, or sheer, heft. Fingerwork is fleet, precise and clear.
Trills are even and rounded, and Sapellnikoff plays as softly as the
technology of the time would allow. Certainly his dynamics are worthy of
study. He shows no studio nerves, and though the playing can’t be
characterised as unbridled – this would imply a fiery element that was
largely missing from him - he presents the work, one that he had played by
then for nearly forty years, with remarkable subtlety. Interpretative
divergence in some works runs the gamut – think of violinists Anja Ignatius
and Tossy Spivakovsky in the Sibelius Concerto for polar opposites, for
example. In this respect Sapellnikoff represents an altogether different
tradition to that espoused later by Horowitz. As for Chapple he follows his
soloist with great care. The winds, vibrato-free, are pipy, the strings -
bolstered by brass reinforcements -occasionally stygian. No matter. This is
a very important document.
It was fortunate that someone had the good sense to record Sapellnikoff at
all. Tchaikovsky’s
Humoresque is another important associative
piece and his Russian repertoire invariably sounds just right. The
Glinka-Balakirev
Lark may be abridged but has a full range of
colour and subtle rubati. He deals with the virtuosic demands of Anton
Rubinstein’s
Staccato Etude with nonchalance and generates real
brio – unusual to find such self-confidence in the studios of the time - in
the Weber-Tausig
Invitation to the Dance. Vocalion moved over to
electric recording in 1927 and some of these sides are electrically
recorded, though the Marconi system they used was badly inferior to Western
Electric employed by rivals. It’s good to encounter those pieces that spread
out over two sides of a 78, such as The Wagner-Liszt
Tannhäuser or
the Hungarian Rhapsody No.12. The Chopin sequence is delightful, played with
dextrous clarity that doesn’t preclude warmth. He can be a little
strait-laced in Liszt but also plays three of his own compositions,
character pieces of much charm and high spirits, and no little drollery.
The remainder of disc two is given over to the very few recordings of
Xaver Scharwenka (1850-1924). His piano compositions have stayed on the
fringes of the repertoire, heard more often in recordings than the concert
hall. He set down just seven sides in New York in 1910 and 1913. These
tasteful performances are imbued with a degree of robustness but never
extroversion. He’d made his debut in 1873 with Mendelssohn’s D minor
Concerto and it’s clear from this performance of the
Andante and Rondo
capriccioso that he was a fine and sensitive interpreter of the
composer’s music. It may well be his best disc.
Many years ago Pearl released their transfer of Sapellnikoff’s Tchaikovsky
concerto adding a dozen other pieces. There was much more surface noise
there though a touch more openness as well. Despite this, these APRs are
conspicuously good transfers. The booklet by Jonathan Summers is
first-class.
A final thought: checking some old listings we find that Sapellnikoff
returned to the studios for the fledgling Decca company in 1929 but his
Rachmaninov Second Concerto was never issued. Basil Cameron was the
conductor for most of the undertaking, but Julian Clifford covered for him
on the latter of the two recording dates. He also recorded
Widmung,
Liszt’s
Polonaise No.2 and his own
Gavotte - an electric
re-make of a piece he had recorded for Vocalion. Of all these recordings not
one was issued and no trace remains of them.
Let’s not mourn what’s lost: let’s salute what remains. This splendid
twofer is priced as for one,
which makes
its appeal even greater.
Jonathan Woolf
Full track-listing
Pyotr Ilych TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
Piano Concerto No.1 in B
flat minor, Op.23 [31:13]
Aeolian Orchestra/Stanley Chapple
Humoresque Op.10 No.2 [2:30]
Mikhail GLINKA (1804-1857)-Mily BALAKIREV (1837-1910)
The Lark [3:15]
Mily BALAKIREV (1837-1910)
Mazurka No.4 in G flat major [3:52]
Anton RUBINSTEIN (1829-1894)
Staccato Etude Op.23 No.2 [4:00]
Anatole LIADOV (1855-1914)
A Musical Snuffbox Op.32 [2:20]
Carl Maria von WEBER (1786-1826)
Invitation to the Dance, Op.65 arr. Tausig [4:03]
Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)
Scherzo, Op.16 No.2 [4:03]
Robert SCHUMANN (1810-1856)
Traumes Wirren; Fantasiestücke, Op.12 No.7 [2:32]
Frühlingsnacht; Liederkreis Op.39 No.12 [2:32]
Richard WAGNER (1813-1883)-Franz LISZT (1811-1886)
Spinning Chorus from The Flying Dutchman S440 arr. Franz LISZT [4:17]
Entry of the Guests from Tannhauser S445/1 arr. Franz LISZT [7:14]
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Hungarian Dance No. 6 in D flat major
Vassily Sapellnikoff (piano)
Fryderyk CHOPIN (1809-1847)
Waltz No. 1 in E flat major 'Grande Valse Brillante', Op. 18
[3:01]
Berceuse in D flat major, Op. 57 [3:50]
Étude Op. 10 No. 5 in G flat major 'Black Key' [1:31]
Étude Op. 25 No. 9 in G flat major 'Butterfly' [1:05]
Alexander ALYABYEV (1787-1851)
Le Rossignol arr Franz Liszt S250/1 [3:08]
Franz LISZT (1811-1886)
Valse-Impromptu in A flat S213 [4:16]
Waldesrauchen; No.1 of Two Concert Studies S145 [3:23]
Gnomenreigen: No.2 of Two Concert Studies S145 [3:01]
Hungarian Rhapsody, S244 No. 12 in C sharp minor [7:54]
Hungarian Rhapsody, S244 No. 13 in A minor [4:15]
Vassily SAPELNIKOFF (1868-1941)
Waltz in E flat Op.1 [4:08]
Gavotte in E, Op. 4 No. 2 [3:02]
Polka-Miniature, Op. 6 No. 2 [2:21]
Vassily Sapellnikoff (piano)
Carl Maria von WEBER
Invitation to the Dance, Op.65 [4:40]
Felix MENDELSSOHN
Rondo Capriccioso in E major, Op.14 [4:49]
Fryderyk CHOPIN
Waltz in A flat major, Op.34 No.1 [4:18]
Impromptu No. 4 in C sharp minor, Op. 66
'Fantaisie-Impromptu' [4:13]
Franz LISZT
Liebestraum, S541 No. 3 (Nocturne in A flat major) [4:22]
Xaver SCHARWENKA (1850-1924)
Spanisches Ständchen, Op. 63, No. 1 [4:08]
Five Polish Dances Op. 3: No. 1 in E flat [3:08]
Xaver Scharwenka (piano)
